Talk:Manny Santos/@comment-5261392-20140719160445
copies Manny appreciation post onto her page because she's the queen of my heart- Manny Santos Throughout nine seasons of the show, many people can agree that Manny is one of the characters who has gone through the most development and has truly developed into a beautiful, well rounded individual. During her time on Degrassi, we saw Manny as the young and naive sidekick to Emma, to a teenage girl trying to establish her own bold image and experience new things, to the girl who was slut shamed and shunned by the whole school after having an abortion, to the girl who was trying to build herself up again after the pain of having that procedure done, to the girl who was once again shamed by everyone after a video of her revealing breasts online and was even kicked out of her own house, and finally, the girl who got through all of that and more, established a successful career as an actress, settled down with the love of her life, and developed into a strong, beautiful, and resilient young woman. What I find most interesting about Manny is that at the beginning of the series, she wasn't all that major of a character. She was sweet, bubbly, and adorable, but for the most part, she was Emma's best friend and sort of lived in her shadow. Emma was outspoken and extremely opinionated whereas at the time, Manny was more quiet and reserved. I still enjoyed her, don't get me wrong. She was a total sweetheart; however, it wasn't until the writers made her unlikable that I ironically took an interest in her and it wasn't until she reached a low point in her life that she started getting her act, was able to become a genuinely great, well rounded person that you wanted to root for. During her freshman year of high school, Manny was tired of others viewing her as "adorable". She wanted to be known for being sexy and hot, which causes her to change her entire style - and her attitude. For awhile, she was rude, selfish, conceited, and immature. She was bitchy to her best friends and seemed to drop them once she gained more attention from her peers, specifically boys. She goes out with Craig Manning, who at the time was dating Ashley. Of course, Craig is more at fault since he was the one who had two girlfriends at one time, but I couldn't stand how Manny came in between that relationship, had no regards for Ashley's feelings, didn't seem to care that she was "the other woman", and even seemed to victimize herself, which annoyed me because excluding the pregnancy, she knew what she was getting herself into. However, after she broke up with Craig, another story unfolded - Manny was pregnant with Craig's baby. This story made me soften up on her and I really did sympathize with her. She was young, naive, and desperate to be wanted. Her first time having sex and she was pregnant and the young age of 14. And of course, since we live in such a misogynistic culture, everyone was quick to shun and slut shame Manny and didn't even care that Craig was the one who cheated and got a younger girl pregnant. It's fucked up, but extremely realistic. Manny ended up getting an abortion and I honestly think she made the right decision. Political views aside, you have to admit that Manny was not ready to raise her child and if she did give birth, her child would have either had A) a neglectful mother or B) a potentially dangerous and unstable living condition in a foster home. Ultimately, she saved her baby the pain of having a shitty life, but the aftermath was a different story. Everyone not only saw Manny as "the school slut" but also the girl who had an abortion, and was once again shunned. People she was once close to wouldn't give her the time of day, with the exception of JT, who she later dated. Now, JTanny is a NOTP for me and I acknowledge that Manny never had genuine feelings for JT, but it makes sense that she would jump at the chance to be with the one person who was nice to her after she was going through a difficult time and just had an abortion. Sophomore year rolls around and Manny still seemed to be stuck in that immature, bitchy phase. I didn't hold it against her since she was a teenage girl and got her shit together as she matured, but she annoyed me a lot during Season 4. She dumped JT for being too "immature" but dated Spinner (who not only was immature but a complete asshole at the time), got in between Spaige's relationship (which was already on the rocks, but still), and then there was the whole Manny/Paige conflict, which was realistic and entertaining, but Manny was being a huge bitch during it, etc. However, by the end of the season, she was back in my good books because that whole conflict was put to a rest and I commend her for calling JT out on his shit and taking Toby's side when those two were fighting. Then Junior year comes around andd Manny faces even more adversity. She's determined to become an actress, but the people she auditions for fat shame her (which is ridiculous because Manny has the PERFECT body) and after getting into a nasty fight with her father where he acts like a total prick to her, she goes to a party and gets drunk to numb her pain. It's when she's wasted out of her mind that Peter Stone takes advantage of her and ends up sending a video of her revealing her breasts to the entire school. This leads to so much slut shaming, her best friend saying that she hated her, and her father kicking her out. But what's amazing is that this horrible incident helped Manny realize who was really important in her life and ultimately became a stronger person. After her father slut shamed her, she did not take anyone's shit anymore. We saw this when Ellie acted rude and catty towards her (and she called her out) and when Darcy called her a slut (and she whooped that ass). Plus, she became such a kind, amazing, and selfless friend. She didn't get mad when Emma started dating the guy who ruined her reputation, she helped her and Spike out after Snake cheated, and she helped Emma beat her eating disorder. One of my favorite things about Manny was that she was an amazing friend, even to the people who treated her shoddily. For the next three seasons up until the last season, she was a total QUEEN and she never disappointed or annoyed me. As I said before, she was such a devoted, loyal, compassionte, and understanding friend and person. In addition to Peter, Manny was Darcy's rock and helped her when she was dealing with the trauma of her rape. She was also a great friend to Liberty, Toby, Emma - basically everyone when they were dealing with JT's death. Yeah, she dated someone from Lakehurst and I could see why people were turned off by them, but it's not like Damian even knew Drake, so I wasn't the least bit annoyed by her. She loved Jay to death (the first guy she ever genuinely LOVED), gave him a chance when no one else did and took time to understand him and show him genuine kindness and had a huge part in him developing into a good person; she was able to get through an emotionally abusive relationship with Mick and find herself a successful career as an actress, and was able to find her own happily ever after despite all the obstacles she once faced. Manny is truly an inspiration. She is someone who went through so much adversity, but she was able to keep her head up high when no one else stood by her side. She found happiness because of all of her time and valiant efforts. She is a wonderful friend and girlfriend who never held people's actions against them and was always open to forgiving others. She is strong, fierce, sassy, badass, and didn't take shit from anyone, but also sweet, compassionate, adorable, and funny. She is a wonderful person on the inside and out and is a great example of someone who turned their life around and changed themselves for the better. One of my all time favorite characters. ♥